Definition

Aristotle divided all living things between plants (which generally do not move), and animals
(which often are mobile to catch their food). In Linnaeus' system, these became the Kingdoms
Vegetabilia (later Metaphyta or Plantae) and Animalia (also called Metazoa). Since then, it has
become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the
fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms. However, these are still often
considered plants in many contexts, both technical and popular.

Current definitions of Plantae

When the name Plantae or plants is applied to a specific taxon, it is usually referring to one of
three concepts. From smallest to largest in inclusiveness, these three groupings are:

Name(s) Scope Description

Land plants, also known
Plantae sensu As the narrowest of plant categories, this is further
as Embryophyta or
strictissimo delineated below.
Metaphyta.
Comprise the above Embryophytes, Charophyta (i.e.,
Green plants - also primitive stoneworts), and Chlorophyta (i.e., green algae
known as such as sea lettuce). Viridiplantae encompasses a group of
Plantae sensu
Viridiplantae, organisms that possess chlorophyll a and b, have plastids
stricto
Viridiphyta or that are bound by only two membranes, are capable of
Chlorobionta storing starch, and have cellulose in their cell walls. It is
this clade which is mainly the subject of this article.
Comprises the green plants above, as well as Rhodophyta
(red algae) and Glaucophyta (simple glaucophyte algae).
Archaeplastida, Plastida Plantae sensu
As the broadest plant clade, this comprises most of the
or Primoplantae lato
eukaryotes that eons ago acquired their chloroplasts
directly by engulfing cyanobacteria.

Outside of formal scientific contexts, the term "plant" implies an association with certain traits,
such as multicellularity, cellulose, and photosynthesis.[2][3] Many of the classification
controversies involve organisms that are rarely encountered and are of minimal apparent
economic significance, but are crucial in developing an understanding of the evolution of modern
flora.

Algae

Green algae from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904.

Main article: Algae
Most algae are no longer classified within the Kingdom Plantae.[4][5] The algae comprise several
different groups of organisms that produce energy through photosynthesis, each of which arose
independently from separate non-photosynthetic ancestors. Most conspicuous among the algae
are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that may roughly resemble terrestrial plants, but are
classified among the green, red, and brown algae. Each of these algal groups also includes
various microscopic and single-celled organisms.

The two groups of green algae are the closest relatives of land plants (embryophytes). The first
of these groups is the Charophyta (desmids and stoneworts), from which the embryophytes
developed.[6][7][8] The sister group to the combined embryophytes and charophytes is the other
group of green algae, Chlorophyta, and this more inclusive group is collectively referred to as the
green plants or Viridiplantae. The Kingdom Plantae is often taken to mean this monophyletic
grouping. With a few exceptions among the green algae, all such forms have cell walls
containing cellulose, have chloroplasts containing chlorophylls a and b, and store food in the
form of starch. They undergo closed mitosis without centrioles, and typically have mitochondria
with flat cristae.

The chloroplasts of green plants are surrounded by two membranes, suggesting they originated
directly from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria. The same is true of two additional groups of algae:
the Rhodophyta (red algae) and Glaucophyta. All three groups together are generally believed to
have a common origin, and so are classified together in the taxon Archaeplastida. In contrast,
most other algae (e.g. heterokonts, haptophytes, dinoflagellates, and euglenids) have chloroplasts
with three or four surrounding membranes. They are not close relatives of the green plants,
presumably acquiring chloroplasts separately from ingested or symbiotic green and red algae.

Fungi

Main article: Fungi

The classification of fungi has been controversial until quite recently in the history of biology.
Linnaeus' original classification placed the fungi within the Plantae, since they were
unquestionably not animalian; this being the only other alternative. With later developments in
microbiology, in the 19th century Ernst Haeckel felt that a third kingdom was required to classify
newly discovered micro-organisms. The introduction of the new kingdom Protista as an
alternative to Animalia, led to uncertainty as to whether fungi truly were best placed in the
Plantae or whether they ought to be reclassified as protists. Haeckel himself found it difficult to
decide and it was not until 1969 that a solution was found whereby Robert Whittaker proposed
the creation of the kingdom Fungi. Molecular evidence has since shown that the concestor (last
common ancestor) of the Fungi was probably more similar to that of the Animalia than of any
other kingdom, including the Plantae.

Whittaker's original reclassification was based on the fundamental difference in nutrition

between the Fungi and the Plantae. Unlike plants, which are generally autotrophic multicellular
phototrophs which gain carbon through photosynthesis, fungi are generally heterotrophic uni- or
multi-cellular saprotrophs, obtaining carbon by breaking down and absorbing surrounding
materials. In addition, the substructure of multicellular fungi takes the form of many chitinous
microscopic strands called hyphae, which may be further subdivided into cells or may form a
syncytium containing many eukaryotic nuclei. Fruiting bodies, of which mushrooms are most
familiar example, are the reproductive structures of fungi.